Carla Saulter has been living without a car—and using public transit as her primary form of transportation—since March of 2003. Though she gave up driving because of concerns about the detrimental effects of car culture (pollution, traffic, sprawl), the decision has profoundly and positively changed her life. Some of these positive changes include: enforced exercise, time to read, reduced expenses, and contact with her community on a level that would never have been possible in the isolated bubble of a single-occupancy vehicle.

The ultimate bus foul, part III (or, another good reason to ride)

About 900 New Yorkers shed their bottoms – but not their underwear – and took to the 2, 6 and R trains for the seventh annual No Pants Subway Ride.

“This is what I’d be doing anyway on a Saturday – sitting at home with my pants off,” proclaimed Matt Gernt, 22, a finance consultant from Harlem, before boarding an R train.

I can’t say I’m interested in seeing that much of my fellow riders (Seattle bus types: Don’t get any ideas.), but I imagine that for some New Yorkers (my brother, Jeremy, for example), it all depends on who’s on the train.